The U.S. Geological Survey said the steep, fault-formed range west of the lake could generate earthquakes with magnitudes from 6.3 to 6.9.

It also warns they could trigger landslides along the whole Tahoe-Sierra frontal fault zone stretching from west of Truckee, to the south end of Tahoe—through the middle of Squaw Valley USA ski resort, Emerald Bay and Fallen Leaf Lake.

Researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno, Cal-Berkeley and Army Corps of Engineers helped with the new technology is known as bare-earth airborne LiDAR—Light Detection and Ranging. It offers a look at tectonic activity obscured by vegetation.

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